Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is working on a way for aid money to enter Gaza without being used for terrorism, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Sunday, following reports that Bennett may allow Qatar to send Hamas suitcases of cash as his predecessor did.
“As was officially publicized, the Qatari grant to the needy in the Gaza Strip was organized by the UN, with the grant transferred in vouchers [directly to families] and not suitcases of cash as in the past,” the PMO stated.
However, the defense establishment is “examining various alternatives” for the third part of the Qatari donations. “When an appropriate plan is found that ensures the money won’t go to terrorist activities, it will be presented by the defense minister to the prime minister,” the PMO said. “The previous plan will not return. The prime minister will decide his position after the possibilities are presented to him.”
Qatar and other foreign actors have sought to send aid to Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Guardian of the Walls in May.
Bennett and others in his government, like Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman, came out strongly in the final years of Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership against the regular cash shipments from Qatar, which were meant to buy relative quiet from Hamas and help the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In recent months, money to needy families in Gaza went through the UN’s banking system. Israel sought to have salaries of Gazan civil servants go through traceable banking channels, but Palestinian banks, which had originally agreed to transfer the money, reversed their decision out of a concern that they would face sanctions for funding terror.
Under a revised funding scheme coordinated by Qatar and the UN and supported by Israel, vouchers will be given out beginning Monday to nearly 100,000 beneficiaries at more than 700 distribution points throughout the Gaza Strip, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
(2/2) Eligible families will continue to receive notifications over the coming days informing them of their enrollment and when they will receive their assistance. This comes in addition to ongoing aid to needy people in #Gaza implemented by #UN agencies.
— UNSCO (@UNSCO_MEPP) September 12, 2021
Officials did not say if or how the distribution points were being monitored to ensure the cash bypasses Hamas.
At the same time, Egypt has been working to negotiate a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Bennett is expected to visit Cairo in the near future to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah a-Sisi.
Israel has said that it will not reach an agreement without the return of the bodies of IDF soldiers Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, which Hamas has held since 2014, and Israeli civilians Abera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been in Hamas captivity since 2014 and 2015, respectively. Egypt is reportedly taking the demand seriously and negotiating their release.